


Your Friends Are More Like Family

by masterroadtripper



Series: Best We Can [5]
Category: Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: (though almost anything the newsies do would be considered underage), Hurt/Comfort, Jack is a good friend, M/M, Minor Character Death, Moving, Parent Death, Underage Smoking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-28
Updated: 2019-12-28
Packaged: 2021-02-26 19:48:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21994111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/masterroadtripper/pseuds/masterroadtripper
Summary: Davey and Les face a family death followed by unpleasant times at home.  Thank goodness Jack is terrible at sleeping and can let them into the lodge to stay.
Relationships: Crutchie/Jack Kelly, David Jacobs & Les Jacobs
Series: Best We Can [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1555765
Kudos: 55





	Your Friends Are More Like Family

Jack wasn’t able to sleep. Not an unusual occurrence by any means, but, regardless, he was awake. In the dim light from the warehouses, Jack had his sketchbook out and was working on a rough draft for The World. The drawing would likely look like shit when he checked in the morning, but it got the ideas out of his head. He had waited until he knew Charlie was actually asleep before he carefully removed himself from the younger boy’s grasp and climbed up to the top bunk. Now, he could hear his soft snuffling snores underneath the violent chainsaw snores coming from Race and Henry's bunk just two down. Jack would bet any money that it was Race and that he would owe Albert a cigar the next morning.

A soft ‘pinging’ noise shook Jack out of his concentration. He wasn’t sure what the noise was or where it had come from but it wasn’t normal. Sitting in absolute silence, Jack put his sketchbook down beside him and briefly considered going to smother Race so he could hear the sound if it happened again. In the silence of the lodging room, he heard the ping again, a little harder and louder this time. It sounded like something had hit the window right at the foot of his bunk.

Crawling over to it, he jimmied the rusted locked as softly as he could and managed to slid it open enough to peek his head out. Looking around, he saw a guy and a kid standing on the fire escape. _Davey and Les_ , Jack’s mind supplied.

“What youse doin?” Jack whisper shouted down to them.

“Can we please just come inside, its freezing out here Jack,” Davey replied. Right. Middle of the winter.

“Yeah, c’mon,” Jack said, more forcefully pushing the window open with his shoulder until there was a big enough gap for the two boys to get through.

He wondered what they were doing out on the streets with their packs loaded this late at night, but now wasn’t the time to ask. They hadn’t seen the Jacobs’ boys in almost a week and Jack wondered if perhaps their father had found work again and the two were able to go back to school. This sure negated that thought.

Inside, Jack grabbed his pack and his sketchbook off his bunk, saying, “dere's no spare mattresses up here, but we’ll get youse two one for tomorrow night. Tonight, youse gonna sleeps on my bunk.”

 _I’ll sleep with Charlie_ , was left unsaid. He wondered how much Davey and Les knew or understood about him and Charlie. It was better to not ask.

“Thanks Jack, really,” Davey said, tucking Les into the sheets. It wouldn’t be comfortable, both boys on one thin bunk, but if Jack could do it with Charlie, those two would be able to manage.

Once Les was tucked in, Davey climbed down and asked, “you know where Race keeps his cigars? Could use one of them right about now.”

“Tha’ can be arranged,” Jack said, creeping through the lodge towards Race’s bunk. From underneath, he pulled out an old wooden box and grabbed one. Carefully, he slid it back into its hiding place and reminded himself to buy Race two new ones for the trouble.

“‘ere,” Jack said, handing it over to Davey, “gotsta go back out there if youse wants to smokes it though.”

“M’kay, Davey said, pulling his heavy jacket back on and climbing back out the window. Jack followed and, while propping it open with an eraser, closed the window most of the way. By the time he made it over to where Davey had sat, he already had it lit.

“‘m I allowed ta ask whatchu ‘n Les doin’ out ‘ere at fuck all in the morning?” Jack asked.

“Mom died,” Davey said so quietly that Jack thought he hadn’t heard right. Last he had seen Ms. Jacobs, she had seemed fine. That was only a couple of weeks ago.

“God Davey ’m so sorry,” Jack said, leaning back on his hands and looking at the billowing smoke floating above their heads from the cigar.

“Least it was fast, I guess,” Davey reasoned, “Doc said there was no way she would have felt any pain. Just, gone in an instant, you know?”

“Factory accident?” Jack asked. He knew that she had taken on a factory job to help support the boys, but he’d assumed it was at a textile plant or something, where most of the women worked. No way that could have happened at a textile plant.

“Yeah,” Davey replied, “band saw got lose and just...you know.”

“I’m glad youse came ‘ere,” Jack said, “Youse can stay wif us long as youse needs.”

“Thanks Jack,” Davey said, “Really not sure what we’re going to do anyway. Dad’s been drinking non-stop the past few days and I thought we just had to leave before he gots us kicked out.”

“So this all happened a couple of days ago?” Jack exclaimed. When Davey shrugged, Jack continued, “why didna youse come ‘ere sooner?”

“Thought we could last it at home,” Davey replied.

Jack didn’t understand that logic but didn’t argue with it. He never had a younger brother nor anyone like that under his direct care. Sure he kept an eye out for Charlie, but it wasn’t quite the same way.

“Bet Motha Martha wouldn’t mind anotha two newsies in tha lodge,” Jack said.

He barely remembered when his mother died, other than the doctors coming and going every day for about a week before they stopped and she was gone. Then his father jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge. Was basically fending for himself at that point anyway and he found that he could do it much more effectively from his location at the Lower Manhattan Young Boys Lodge.

“Thanks Jack, I mean it,” Davey said, still puffing away on the cigar, the action seeming to calm his nerves and take the jitters away. Jack knew that was why Race smoked - to keep his active mind still and his manic limbs quieter.

“Gots all youse stuffs?” Jack asked. They didn’t have much to go around, but Les was about the same size as Patch and Smalls now, so lending clothes was an option. For Davey, that would be a little more of a challenge as he was quite tall - had obviously done most of his growth in a relatively food-rich environment. That was what Katherine had told him. Why wasn’t he so tall? It was because of his food intake, or lack thereof when he was younger. Made him wonder how tall he would be had he grown up a Pulitzer or Herst.

“Most of it anyways. Probably sneak back in tomorrow and grab my books and some more clothes,” Davey said, flicking the burnt-out end of the cigar down onto the cobblestones two storeys below.

“Guess we better get to bed if we have to go selling tomorrow morning,” Davey added, pushing himself up off the cold metal. Jack knew he probably wouldn’t get any sleep regardless of how soon morning was to arrive, but he figured now that Davey was riding the calm of the cigar, he wanted to head to sleep. Made sense.

* * *

“Davey and Les ‘ere?” Charlie muttered, stirring a little as Jack carefully climbed over him to wedge himself between the younger boy and the outer wall. He tugged the corner of Charlie's blanket over his shoulder and wrapped his arms over the sturdy frame now pressed snug to his front. 

“Yeah. Stayin wif us for good,” Jack replied, kissing the shell of Charlie’s ear, and adding, “go back ta sleep luv, mornin will be ‘ere soon enough.”

**Author's Note:**

> An explanation as to why Davey and Les were at the Lodge. Takes place before Give Us Our Rights.


End file.
